I really do like the concept of the guy being transferred to a fantasy world either through means of a summoning or through reincarnation. In this case Kazuma died a hilarious comedic death and is given the option of bringing any “broken weapon or ability” with him. Yet, out of all of the cards that were dealt, he picked the lowest card of the deck, the joker, Aqua, the most useless card that could be dealt. Haha.

What makes this a good book is how the author conveys both the plot and how he/she depicts the characters in the plot. KonoSuba is classed as a comedy but I feel this isn’t meant to be a comedy, it’s a well thought out story that includes very funny moments. The pace and language is very simple and the plot flows smoothly without over-articulating the writing. I’m not a very good reader and I struggle to take in the information but with KonoSuba I found the books very easy to read.

A good foundation for a story is always important but having good characters is equally as important. I’m happy to say that the characters in this story are amazing, especially the main crew, Kazuma and his party.

Kazuma has no talent and therefore became your average adventurer and forms a party with three high-class adventurers, the Arch Priest Aqua, the Arch Wizard, Megumin, and the Crusader, Darkness. The ladies being as strong as they are should be using Kazuma as their bag carrier, yet, the beautiful catch of this party is that they’re all completely useless in their own quirky ways. Aqua is a Diva, Megumin can only use explosion magic once before she faints and Darkness is a masochist who can’t even hit the simplest of objects. It’s no surprise that Kazuma became leader by default, look what happened when he traded places with Dust. Haha.

The ultimate plot of this over-powered game is for the bog standard Hero, Kazuma, to eliminate the Demon King once and for all. He needs to beat him, or her (it could be a lady) to achieve his unyielding desire and to return Aqua to the Heavens. The current goal is to scrape through each day whilst eliminating all the Demon Generals in the process.

Speaking of Demon Generals, the villains are just as wonderful as the main cast. You have this tough Dullahan, Beldia, who is extremely intimidating when confronting the town of Axel but gets bewildered and rolls around in agony that wouldn’t befit the role of a villain. The other Demon General Wiz has a very unique relationship with Aqua and the polar opposites between them are high and hilarious for unusual reasons. It’s as Kazuma said, they ought to switch places for Goddess and Lich.

The underlying feature that I found beautiful is the relationship between Kazuma and his three party members. They banter a lot and you often see their love and hate relationship, mostly between Kazuma and Aqua, but deep down I think they all care deeply for each other. Their relationship partly reminds me of the relationship between Del Boy and Rodney from Only Fools and Horses (UK Sitcom).

Throughout the three volumes the feelings and bonds between Kazuma and the three ladies grew and developed in significant ways. If nothing happens romantically between them it wouldn’t ruin the story because they will always be close like family and that is just as important as a romantic relationship. =)

I get the impression that Aqua, Megumin and Darkness care more for Kazuma than his family ever did so it’s not surprising that Kazuma treasures them.

5 out of 5

Post-Review:

The modern niche in anime is the protagonist being transferred from modern day Japan to a fantasy world set in the middle ages, KonoSuba is one of them. It was a Web Novel but as far as I understand Natsume stopped writing the Web Novel when Kadokawa licensed the series and thus the Light Novel series was born, and I’m very thankful it was. =)

I first watched the anime on a whim last year and since then I’ve been watching it, reading it and collecting KonoSuba memorabilia back to back ever since. I’m very happy to say that this is one of my all-time favourite series, both as an anime and as a Manga/Light Novel series. I’m especially thankful for YenPress for licensing the series because now I get to indulge in the KonoSuba literature any time at my leisure.

In light of the surging popularity behind KonoSuba there’s a bunch of Spin-offs released as result. Here’s to hoping that YenPress will license these spin-offs in the near future for I, as one, would gladly support and read with pride more KonoSuba. =)

Hello everyone, I just thought I’d give you all a quick update on my latest news.

For the past few weeks I have been experiencing an unfortunate cold which made me lose a lot of steam and energy with my drawings so I decided to take a small break to rest. Thankfully it seems the worst of my cold has disappeared, all I’m left with is an aggravating tickle in my throat. I should be fine as long as I don’t cough or talk, haha. Fortunately I’m well enough to resume my requests and anything drawing related. =)

It’s amazing to think I’ve received so many requests since the end of last year. When I first shared my art online I never imagined that anyone would view my art let alone ask me for a picture. Almost all of my art I’ve uploaded this year have been requests. In hindsight I probably accepted too many requests at once which resulted in a huge backlog and since Christmas I’ve been playing catch-up. Even now I’m still playing catch-up but I will continue to keep doing my best until they’re all finished.

Outside my art life I’ve been up to various things, mostly watching films and the football with my family. I’m also watching two new anime from this season, KonoSuba season two and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. KonoSuba’s second season is as funny as I expected it to be but I’m enjoying Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid far more than I thought I would. They’re the perfect anime to cheer me up during my time with a cold and they couldn’t have aired at a better time, even their opening and ending songs lifts the mood. =)

I wrote my first ever blog three years ago, around this time. Instead of talking about my favourite moments of the year I’m going to commemorate this anniversary by listing my Top Ten Favourite Anime of all time. =D

From 10 to 1 here is my all-time top ten. =)

10. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma (2015)

9. Locodol (2014)

8. No Game No Life (2014)

7. One Punch Man (2015)

6. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (2015)

5. Monster Musume (2015)

4. High School DxD (2012)

3. KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! (2016)

2. New Game! (2016)

Non Non Biyori (2013)

That’s my list done. What’s your favourite anime? Feel free to comment and we can have a good chat. =D

As of late I like the concept when the main characters are transported to a roleplaying/fantasy world from the “real world”.

I literally enjoyed every minute of KonoSuba, especially the characters. At times I felt Kazama and Aqua were hot and cold. One minute I thought they were cool and funny but other times I thought they were rude and self-centred. However, I still found them likable despite their occasional faults and because of their past lives and circumstances, it was always going to be a challenge for them to adapt. In fact, I actually think they’re coping well considering that they were dragged to a new world without warning.

Megumin and Darkness are both nice ladies but they’re both very eccentric in their own ways. You have Megumin, an enthusiastic girl who loves Explosion Magic but knocks herself out whenever she uses it. And you have Darkness, who seems reasonably sensible, but is clearly not trained in sword combat and is a massive masochist. I bet she didn’t hone her skills so she would deliberately and naturally lose against a monster. Haha.

I even liked the supporting cast, Wiz, Luna, Eris and even Verdia, who I thought was hilarious and badass at the same time.

In this roleplaying type of setting I felt that Kazama and his fellow teammates were accommodating each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I feel that it’s refreshing that Kazama isn’t overpowered; rather, he literally worked his way up from the bottom along with Aqua. He uses his whit to beat his opponents rather than power. He’s proven to me that you don’t have to be the stronger fighter to win a fight.

This is party is balanced, yet, unbalanced at the same time. They managed to get the job done in the end but it isn’t without severe repercussions, mostly caused by Aqua. Haha.

What I liked the most about this show was the comedy. I think the comic timing is used brilliantly and very unexpectedly. There were some moments that I thought was going to turn into a sad/cliché scene, yet, something humorous happened and completely undermines the serious moment from before. I thought those moments were absolutely glorious. =D

The battles were very engaging too. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the fights despite the fact that this show isn’t really a battle anime. I was really engaged because I enjoyed the story and humour that went with the action. My favourite moments came when Kazama and co fought Verdia the Dullahan.

This is my favourite anime of the winter season. It went to the point when I kept on re-watching certain episodes over and over again and no doubt in the future I will keep on watching this show over and over again.

I reckon it’s only a matter of time before YenPress licences the manga and light novel as they have license to the Dragon Age publishers and KonoSuba are published by Dragon Age. They recently licensed Grim Reaper and Four Girlfriends and I’m completely over the moon about that. =D